Jannik Sinner, Cerundolo also in shock

Jannik Sinner, after being one step away from victory, resoundingly collapsed in Paris against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, being eliminated in the second round of Roland Garros. The Italian tennis player ahead 2-0 and 5-1 suffered a malaise due to the great heat and was remounted and beaten by the Argentine, who thus qualified for the third round.

“I hadn’t won more than three games in a set, I was a bit lucky, I feel sorry for Jannik – Juan Manuel Cerundolo’s words for Sinner – He deserves to win so many Slams, I don’t know what happened to him if it was cramps or what. I hope he can recover quickly. I am very happy to still be in the running, I will try to play my best. I love clay and I hope to be ready for the next match.”

The final score tells it all: 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 in favor of the Argentine. Sinner, after dominating the first two sets with authority, suffered a devastating physical meltdown that rendered him virtually immobile on the court in the last three partials. At 5-4 in the third set, with Cerundolo at 0-40, the world number one had already called for the physiotherapist’s intervention, confessing, “I don’t feel good, I feel I need to vomit.” After walking off the court in search of refreshment, his return did not change the fortunes of a now compromised match. With this defeat, the South Tyrolean’s extraordinary string of consecutive victories stops at 30.

The heat in Paris had been identified as a dangerous variable already in the hours before the match. A Météo-France weather alert for extreme temperatures had been issued over Paris, with the French capital and several departments under observation for the heat wave that was hitting the country. With a perceived temperature of 36 degrees on the Philippe Chatrier, the risks highlighted by authorities – dehydration, heat stroke, nausea and exhaustion – unfortunately materialized on Sinner’s body at the worst possible moment.